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Today's technology headlines: OOCL to launch Web-based serivce site; analyst dismisses impact of Internet on logistics industry; federal court says FCC gives FBI too much wiretap power; and more.

The Department of Transportation said last week it would set the first-ever standards for the use of performance-based brake testers on commercial trucks, and the move is being met with widespread praise in trucking and law enforcement circles.

Orbcomm Global said it has hired Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities to help it figure out how to pay off a $170-million loan due in 2004, plus the interest.

The Department of Transportation moved to salvage its much-maligned hours-of-service rules revision by proposing three more hearings on the proposal, but the immediate response from Capitol Hill indicated that the department’s tactic may be for naught.

The Department of Transportation said Aug. 9 it would set the first-ever standards for the use of performance-based brake testers on commercial trucks, which could give law enforcement agencies a major new tool in the drive for safer highways.

Teleglobe Inc. said last week it will not provide further funds for its money-losing Orbcomm Global LP subsidiary and moved to find a “strategic partner” to help staunch the unit’s losses.

Gerald J.S. Wilde has some disappointing information for government officials hoping to meet their goals of reducing highway fatalities, especially those involving big rig operators.

The show won’t go on as the organizer of Truckcan, touted as the “Biggest Truck Show in Canada,” pulled the plug on Aug. 4.

U.S. inventories of distillates and crude oil dropped last week – the latter to the lowest level in 24 years, according to the American Petroleum Institute.

If time is money for truckers, then Illinois is helping them make a few dollars with the installation of 14 new weigh-in-motion systems.